INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE 2004 DIVERSITY
IMMIGRANT VISA PROGRAM (DV-2004)
The congressionally mandated Diversity Immigrant Visa
Program is administered on an annual basis by the Department of State and conducted under
the terms of Section 203(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Section 131 of
the Immigration Act of 1990 (Pub. L. 101-649) amended INA 203 to provide for a new class
of immigrants known as "diversity immigrants" (DV immigrants). The Act makes
available 50,000 permanent resident visas annually to persons from countries with low
rates of immigration to the United States.
The annual DV program makes permanent residence visas
available to persons meeting the simple, but strict, eligibility requirements. Applicants
for Diversity Visas are chosen by a computer-generated random lottery drawing. The visas,
however, are distributed among six geographic regions with a greater number of visas going
to regions with lower rates of immigration, and with no visas going to citizens of
countries sending more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the past five years. Within
each region, no one country may receive more than seven percent of the available Diversity
Visas in any one year.
For DV-2004, natives of the following countries1 are not eligible to apply because they sent a total of
more than 50,000 immigrants to the U.S. in the previous five years:
CANADA, CHINA (mainland-born), COLOMBIA,
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, EL SALVADOR, HAITI, INDIA,
JAMAICA, MEXICO, PAKISTAN, PHILIPPINES, SOUTH KOREA
UNITED KINGDOM (except Northern Ireland) and its dependent territories, and VIETNAM.
Persons born in Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan are eligible.
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1 The
term "country" in this notice includes countries, economies and other
jurisdictions explicitly listed.
ENTRIES FOR THE DV-2004 DIVERSITY VISA LOTTERY MUST BE RECEIVED AT ONE OF THE KENTUCKY CONSULAR CENTER
MAILING ADDRESSES BETWEEN NOON ON MONDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2002 AND
NOON ON WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 2002. ENTRIES RECEIVED BEFORE OR AFTER THESE DATES
WILL BE DISQUALIFIED REGARDLESS OF WHEN THEY ARE POSTMARKED. ENTRIES MAILED TO ANY ADDRESS
OTHER THAN THE KENTUCKY CONSULAR CENTER ADDRESSES WILL BE
DISQUALIFIED.
REQUIREMENTS FOR ENTRY
| Native of a country whose natives qualify: In most
cases this means the country in which the applicant was born. However, if a person was
born in a country whose natives are ineligible but his/her spouse was born in a country
whose natives are eligible, such person can claim the spouse’s country of birth
providing both the applicant and spouse are issued visas and enter the U.S.
simultaneously. If a person was born in a country whose natives are ineligible, but
neither of his/her parents was born there or resided there at the time of the
birth, such person may be able to claim nativity in one of the parents’ country of
birth. |
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- Applicant must meet either the education or training
requirement of the DV program.
If the applicant cannot meet these requirements, he or
she should NOT submit an entry to the DV program.
PROCEDURES FOR SUBMITTING AN ENTRY
TO DV-2004
- All entries by an applicant will be
disqualified if more than ONE entry for the applicant is received, regardless of who
submitted the entry.
- The entry
will be disqualified if the entry is not PERSONALLY SIGNED by the applicant in
his/her native alphabet, as it would appear on his/her passport or other official or
contractual obligations. Neither an initialed signature nor block printing of the
applicant’s name will be accepted and will result in the disqualification of the
entry. If an applicant chooses to sign his/her name in the Roman alphabet and that is not
their native alphabet, he/she must also sign in his/her native alphabet.
- The entry will
be disqualified if all required photos are not attached. Recent photographs of
the applicant and his/her spouse and each child, including all natural children as well as
all legally-adopted and stepchildren, excepting a child who is already a U.S. citizen or a
Legal Permanent Resident, even if a child no longer resides with the applicant, must be
attached to the entry. The name and date of birth of each family member must be printed on
the back of their photo. Group or family photos will not be accepted; there must be a
separate photo for each family member. Photos should be attached with tape and not stapled
to the entry. If there is insufficient room on the front of the entry, applicants may tape
photos to the back of the page.
If photos do not conform to the
following specifications, the entry will be disqualified:
- SIZE: Between 1 ½ by 1 ½ and 2 by 2 inches (37-50 mm)
square, with the applicant’s, spouse's, or child's name and date of birth printed on
the back.
- Applicant, spouse, or child must be directly facing the
camera; the head of the person being photographed should not be tilted up, down or to the
side, and should cover about 50% of the area of the photo.
- The photo should be taken with the person being photographed
in front of a neutral, light-colored background. Photos taken with very dark or patterned,
busy backgrounds will not be accepted.
- Photos in which the face of the person being photographed is
not in focus will not be accepted.
- Photos in which the person being photographed is wearing
sunglasses or other paraphernalia which detracts from the face will not be accepted.
- Photos of applicants wearing head coverings or hats are only
acceptable due to religious beliefs, and even then, may not obscure any portion of the
face of the applicant. Photos of applicants with tribal or other headgear not specifically
religious in nature is not acceptable. Photos of military, airline or other personnel
wearing hats will not be accepted.
- Photos may be either color or black and white.
THE ENTRY
There is no specific format for the entry. Simply use a
plain sheet of paper and type or clearly print in the English (Roman) alphabet the
following information. Failure to provide all of this information
will disqualify the applicant’s entry.
1. FULL NAME, with the last (surname/family) name
underlined
EXAMPLES: Public, Sara Jane (or) Lopez,
Juan Antonio
2. DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH
Date: Day, Month, Year, EXAMPLE: 15 November 1961
Place: City/Town, District/County/Province, Country
EXAMPLE: Munich, Bavaria, Germany
The name of the country should be that which is currently in use for the place where the
applicant was born (Slovenia, rather than Yugoslavia; Kazakhstan rather than Soviet Union,
for example).
3. THE APPLICANT’S NATIVE
COUNTRY IF DIFFERENT FROM COUNTRY OF BIRTH If the applicant is claiming nativity in a
country other than his/her place of birth, this must be clearly indicated on the entry.
This information must match with what is put on the upper left corner of the entry
envelope. (See "MAILING THE ENTRY.") If an applicant is
claiming nativity through spouse or parent, please indicate this on the entry. (See "REQUIREMENTS" section for more information on this
item.)
4. NAME, DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH OF THE APPLICANT’S
SPOUSE AND ALL NATURAL CHILDREN, AS WELL AS ALL LEGALLY-ADOPTED AND STEPCHILDREN, WHO ARE
UNMARRIED AND UNDER THE AGE OF 21 YEARS, EXCEPTING THOSE CHILDREN WHO ARE ALREADY U.S.
CITIZENS OR LEGAL PERMANENT RESIDENTS, EVEN IF YOU ARE NO LONGER LEGALLY MARRIED TO THE
CHILD’S PARENT, AND EVEN IF THE CHILD DOES NOT CURRENTLY RESIDE WITH YOU AND/OR WILL
NOT IMMIGRATE WITH YOU. Note that married children and children 21 years or older will not
qualify for the Diversity Visa. Failure to list all children will result in your
disqualification for the visa.
(See question 11 on the list of Frequently Asked Questions.)
5. FULL MAILING ADDRESS
This must be clear and complete, because any future mailings will be sent there. A
telephone number and e-mail address is optional, but useful.
6. PHOTOGRAPH. Attach recent photographs of
the applicant, the applicant’s spouse, and all children. Print the name and date of
birth of each family member on the back of each photograph. Failure
to submit required photos for all family members will result in disqualification. See the information on photo requirements.
7. SIGNATURE. The applicant must personally sign
the entry in his/her native alphabet, as it would appear on his or her passport or other
official or contractual obligations. Failure to personally sign
the entry will disqualify the application. See more
information on the signature requirement.
MAILING THE ENTRY
Under the annual DV program, the world is divided into six
regions, and each region has a separate address. The DV entry should be mailed to the
address listed below for the applicant’s region of nativity:
Africa:
DV Program
Kentucky Consular Center
1001 Visa Crest
Migrate, KY 41901-1000, U.S.A.
Asia:
DV Program
Kentucky Consular Center
2002 Visa Crest
Migrate, KY 41902-2000, U.S.A.
Europe:
DV Program
Kentucky Consular Center
3003 Visa Crest
Migrate, KY 41903-3000, U.S.A.
South America/Central America/Caribbean:
DV Program
Kentucky Consular Center
4004 Visa Crest
Migrate, KY 41904-4000, U.S.A.
Oceania:
DV Program
Kentucky Consular Center
5005 Visa Crest
Migrate, KY 41905-5000, U.S.A.
North America:
DV Program
Kentucky Consular Center
6006 Visa Crest
Migrate, KY 41906-6000, U.S.A.
Submit the entry by regular or airmail to the address
matching the region of the applicant’s country of nativity. Entries sent by
express or priority mail, second day airmail, fax, hand, messenger, or any means requiring
special handling will not be processed.
The envelope must be between 6 and 10 inches (15 to 25 cm)
long and 3 1/2 and 4 1/2 inches (9 to 11 cm) wide. Postcards or envelopes inside express
or oversized mail packets are NOT acceptable. In the upper left-hand corner of the
envelope the applicant must write his/her country of nativity (see instruction 3 above),
followed by the applicant’s name and full return address. The applicant must
provide both the country of nativity and the country of the address, even if both are the
same. Failure to provide this information will disqualify the entry.
The regions are divided as follows:
Africa includes all countries on the African
continent and adjacent islands;
Asia extends from Israel to the northern pacific islands, and includes Indonesia;
Europe extends from Greenland to Russia, and includes all countries of the former
USSR;
North America includes the Bahamas;
Oceania includes Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and all countries and
islands of the South Pacific;
South America/Central America/Caribbean extends from Central America (Guatemala) and
the Caribbean nations to Chile.
EXAMPLE: An applicant who was born in Australia and
now lives in France may submit one entry to the appropriate address
for Oceania; the envelope should look like this:
SELECTION OF APPLICANTS
Applicants will be selected at random by computer from
among all qualified entries. Those selected will be notified by mail between May and
July 2003 and will be provided further instructions, including information on fees
connected with immigration to the U.S. Persons not selected will NOT receive any
notification. U.S. embassies and consulates will not be able to provide a list of
successful applicants. Spouses and unmarried children of successful applicants under age
21 may also apply for visas to accompany or follow to join the principal applicant.
DV-2004 visas will be issued between October 1, 2003 and September 30, 2004.
In order to actually receive a visa, applicants selected
in the random drawing must meet ALL eligibility requirements
under U.S. law, including any applicable special processing requirements established in
response to the events of September 11, 2001. These requirements may significantly
increase the level of scrutiny required and time necessary for processing of applications
for natives of some countries listed in this notice, including, but not limited to,
countries identified as state sponsors of terrorism.
Processing of entries and issuance of diversity visas to
successful applicants and their eligible family members MUST occur by midnight on
September 30, 2004. Under no circumstances can diversity visas be issued or adjustments
approved after this date, nor can family members obtain diversity visas to follow to join
the applicant in the U.S. after this date.
Important Notice
NO fee is charged to enter the annual DV
program. The U.S. Government employs no outside consultants or private mail services
to operate the DV program. Any intermediaries or others who offer assistance to prepare DV
casework for applicants do so without the authority or consent of the U.S. Government. Use
of any outside intermediary or assistance to prepare a DV entry is entirely at the
applicant's discretion.
A qualified entry received directly
from an applicant has an equal chance of being selected by the computer at the Kentucky
Consular Center as does an entry received through a paid intermediary who completes the
entry for the applicant. There is no advantage to mailing early, or mailing from any
particular place. Every entry received during the mail-in period will have an equal random
chance of being selected within its region. However, receipt of more than one entry per
person will disqualify the person from registration, regardless of the source of that
entry.
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